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I have been trying a wide variety of powders and loads over the past couple years, to see which gave me the best accuracy with my Accurate Moulds 312112M plain base, cast bullet. Note: if you order this mould, crimping in the groove means that you will be levering the bullet into the lands, which puts too much strain on the levering mechanism for my money. I use a Lee Factory Crimp and set the bullet in just enough to not quite touch the lands, and crimp it there on the forward driving band. Powders ranged from Unique on the fast end to IMR 4198 on the slow end. Finally, I laid all the targets out on my pool table and made my selection … 9.5 grains of 5744 with a small pistol primer, for a velocity of 1,230 fps and an E.S. of around 7 fps in 10 shots. This is out of my original Model 53 32 W.C.F. made in 1929. At 25 yards, a 3-shot group is about 3/8″ (which is the average range I deal with varmints). At 50 yards, a 5-shot group is roughly 1″, and at 100 yards, the 5-shot groups are around 2 & 5/8″.
Photo of my Model 53 ….
50 yard target ….
100 yard target ….
Kirk,
Decent shooting! Did you try using 2400? I have had good success with it in my Model 1885 low-wall.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Yes, I did and it was pretty good as well. All told, I tried Unique, Blue Dot, 2400, IMR 4227, 5744, IMR SR 4759, RL-7 and IMR 4198 and various powder weights. Most of them were very good, once I adjusted the grains, so it was a tough decision. For higher velocity loads, closer to the original HV load, I might lean toward IMR 4198. I prefer slower, less noisy loads for taking care of problems.
Curious if you remember where you ended up with IMR4198? I’ve got at least 8lbs in the garage and was thinking about loading some 32WCF. Which I have never tried before.
Its nice to have benchmarks to see if you’re on the right track.
Steve
WACA Member. CFM Member. NRA Lifer.
supergimp said
Curious if you remember where you ended up with IMR4198? I’ve got at least 8lbs in the garage and was thinking about loading some 32WCF. Which I have never tried before.
Its nice to have benchmarks to see if you’re on the right track.Steve
I have 10.5 grains of IMR 4198, under my Accurate Moulds 115 grain plain base bullet, with a velocity of 1,257 fps and an E.S. of 12 fps. The accuracy was almost as good as my pet load, but IMR 4198 is a slower burning powder. If I were to increase the load to get a little higher pressure and velocity, I expect it may tighten up, perhaps even tighter than my pet load. This would be due to more immediate expansion of the soft cast bullet to seal the bore. However, for my purposes, I like a lower velocity and lower noise.
I should mention that I have significantly poorer results with hard cast bullets, so have stayed with air-cooled, pure clip-on wheel weights for my bullets.
November 7, 2015
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Nice! Dabbling a bit with an 1892 in the same chambering. NOE makes a nice copy of the Lyman 311008 that works quite well in all my 32’s. I’m about to close in on a very similar load, seems a lot of my load work lately ends up with 5744.
Yes, 5744 has become my powder of choice for 44-40, 32-20, 45-70, 38-55, 45-60, 45-90 and possibly the 45 Schofield.
Kirk I know this is an old topic, but better here than elsewhere I suppose.
Looking to load a mid/light load for an 1873 in 32-20.
I have I/H 4198, 5744, Unique.
I see your pet load for 5744… did you use any filler with that?
I’ve used 5744 before (trapdoor 45/70) but have run into unburned kernels. In your pet load do you find unburned powder in the barrel or action? Trying to avoid that.
I see Re7 listed EVERYWHERE but unfortunately it hasn’t been in stock anywhere in quite some time. Speed wise, however the I and H 4198 seem to be right there on the burn chart.
November 7, 2015
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Old thread, indeed. I found 5744 to be dirty in the 32WCF, finally settled on 231. Had decent results with Unique.
Mike
TXGunNut said
Old thread, indeed. I found 5744 to be dirty in the 32WCF, finally settled on 231. Had decent results with Unique.
Mike
Hey thanks – I’ve got a lot of 231… Mind sharing a starting point you used with a 115gr pill?
November 7, 2015
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I started at 3.5 and ended up with the Waters load of 4.5. Sweet little plinking load, nearly as cheap to shoot as rimfire these days.
Mike
Kirk Durston said
supergimp said
Curious if you remember where you ended up with IMR4198? I’ve got at least 8lbs in the garage and was thinking about loading some 32WCF. Which I have never tried before.
Its nice to have benchmarks to see if you’re on the right track.
Steve
I have 10.5 grains of IMR 4198, under my Accurate Moulds 115 grain plain base bullet, with a velocity of 1,257 fps and an E.S. of 12 fps. The accuracy was almost as good as my pet load, but IMR 4198 is a slower burning powder. If I were to increase the load to get a little higher pressure and velocity, I expect it may tighten up, perhaps even tighter than my pet load. This would be due to more immediate expansion of the soft cast bullet to seal the bore. However, for my purposes, I like a lower velocity and lower noise.
I should mention that I have significantly poorer results with hard cast bullets, so have stayed with air-cooled, pure clip-on wheel weights for my bullets.
You neglected to tell us what your “pet load” is~!
Richard Warrington said
Kirk Durston said
supergimp said
Curious if you remember where you ended up with IMR4198? I’ve got at least 8lbs in the garage and was thinking about loading some 32WCF. Which I have never tried before.
Its nice to have benchmarks to see if you’re on the right track.
Steve
I have 10.5 grains of IMR 4198, under my Accurate Moulds 115 grain plain base bullet, with a velocity of 1,257 fps and an E.S. of 12 fps. The accuracy was almost as good as my pet load, but IMR 4198 is a slower burning powder. If I were to increase the load to get a little higher pressure and velocity, I expect it may tighten up, perhaps even tighter than my pet load. This would be due to more immediate expansion of the soft cast bullet to seal the bore. However, for my purposes, I like a lower velocity and lower noise.
I should mention that I have significantly poorer results with hard cast bullets, so have stayed with air-cooled, pure clip-on wheel weights for my bullets.
You neglected to tell us what your “pet load” is~!
Richard I think he said 9.5 5744 under the 115gr was his new favorite.
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